Zenith
by BioKraze
Summary: A soldier is called back to fight a war he no longer believes in. The departure of a rival can be as poignant and tragic as the departure of a lover...
1. March On, Brave Soldier

Invader Zim_, its concepts and personalities are copyrighted by Nickelodeon/Viacom. I, _BioKraze_, own nothing save the original plot of this fanfiction._

"You're leaving? Are you insane?" Dib's words echoed around the vast hallway of the communications room of Zim's base. He couldn't believe what Zim was doing. After what those _jerks _had said to him! And he was still going to listen?

Zim nodded, his antennae drooped in an emotion alien to the Irkens: sorrow. After almost three years living amongst the humans, the ex-Invader had learned the differences between two sentient races. Zim had learned about human emotions, and how they once applied to his insectoid brethren.

"I have no choice, human. If the Almighty Tallest told me to destroy a planet, I would do it without hesitation. If they told me to destroy a friend, I would not think twice."

Gaz snorted. "And if they said to plunge a Vibroblade in your Pak and feed your squeedlyspooch to a wolf, would you do it?"

Zim nodded again. "If they wish it. I am not in a place to question the motives of my Tallest." He paused. He knew of no other humans he could trust with what may be his final words to these two mere smeets.

His magenta eyes glistening with tears, Zim turned to his former rival. "Dib, I give you complete access to my labs. Use them for your...research. The computer will obey you with alacrity." The sickle haired paranormal investigator nodded, his glasses fogging up with his own tears. The Irken turned to the violet haired Goth.

"Gaz, I want you to take care of GIR for me. Take care of GIR...and keep an eye out for Dib..." Gaz's eyes opened to their fullest, revealing the amber irises common to the children of Membrane. Despite all her barriers, her eyes began to moisten.

GIR, who was hiding behind Zim the entire time, stared at his master. He held a rubber piggy in his hands, his antenna drooped in sorrow. GIR knew that Zim didn't like him. GIR knew, deep down, that his whole existence was a joke.

GIR didn't care. He wanted his master to stay, and his master couldn't. In his soft child's voice, he expressed his desires more eloquently than any orphan could ever hope to.

"Master, I wanna go with you. Can I come with you?" Zim looked at the SIR Unit. Staring into those large cyan orbs was the hardest thing the Irken could ever do in his life. Yet GIR was entitled to the truth, wasn't he?

"No, GIR. I want you to do something very important for me. Can you do this?" GIR nodded, and his normally vacant stare hardened into an expression of concentration. Despite not being in duty mode, GIR knew that his master was going to tell him something special.

Zim kneeled like a soldier being knighted, his magenta eyes staring into GIR's cyan orbs. "I want you to take care of Dib and Gaz while I'm gone. I want you to keep an eye on them. Do whatever they say, but keep them safe."

GIR's antenna lay flat against his head, and his eyes watered. "Master? Are you ever gonna come back?"

Zim closed his eyes. "I'm sorry. I'm not coming back." As the devoted SIR Unit broke into heaving sobs, Zim felt as if he had crushed the hopes of all those present, but he couldn't tell the others what was expected of him. He knew what the Tallest wanted of him. He was to go destroy the Resisty, alone. It was a suicide mission. At long last, the Irken Empire would be rid of Zim forever.

They all walked outside, where the old Voot Cruiser sat on the lawn. Zim climbed into the cramped cockpit, and waved at his friends. He whispered something to them before he closed the windscreen.

"Goodbye, my friends..._Varia Homus Terrakk_..." The craft sealed itself up and took off for the great void of the universe. Dib and Gaz stared at the speck of purple that was their friend heading off to battle. Dib shook his head and spoke in a low voice.

"What was that last thing he said?"

GIR looked at them. He hung his head in sorrow. He spoke to the ground.

"His loyalty is here. _Varia Homus Terrakk._ An Irken phrase. He never said _Ircas Empria._"

Gaz sat down on the grass. "What does it mean?"

GIR's words were so quiet, the two children had to strain their ears to hear it:

_"Man and Earth Forever..."_


	2. Shadows of Glory

It had been fully six years since Zim left the Earth to fight for the Irken Empire. I used his base's equipment, since he had virtually given the labs to me. I didn't use them for my paranormal studies; I had long outgrown that phase of my life. Instead, I had Computer keep a vigilant watch on the Irkens while I tried my hand at what Dad liked to call his _real science_...

Despite what everybody believed in the beginning, I was far better at applying my mind to scientific problems than my own father. Maybe it was because of what I really was. I transcended mere humans. I was genetically engineered by my father and later augmented by the team of aliens that had abducted me as an infant. He would invent something, and I would take it and, with my enhanced intellect and analytical powers, make it mine. I would make it flawless. Membrane Selane was known around the world for SuperToast, but Dib Selane was known around the world for creating perfection. Soon enough, the son of the great Professor Membrane was asked to be the head of his dad's labs at the age of seventeen. As my face grew more famous than my own father's, he soon withdrew into a shadow of his former glory. Three weeks later, Dad disappeared from human view. Nobody had ever heard from him again...

I still watched the skies and recorded transmissions, hoping against hope that Zim was still out there, waiting to come back to the only planet the ex-Invader could ever call home. Every year, Gaz, GIR and I would invite our closest friends to the base for an annual memorial of Zim and his achievements. I remember when Gaz invited Tak on the third anniversary. She never realised how much a part of our lives Zim had become. Apparently, she had been as touched by Zim's presence as we had. Tak would take her broken ship out after every memorial, and return in time for the next. I had the feeling that she was looking for Zim all the time, but she never found him...

I looked at my reflection in a mirror. I was dressed in my memorial outfit, designed to mimic the Invader's uniform that Zim wore all the time. I took a deep breath, then set out for a lab room we had changed into a shrine of sorts. A shrine dedicated to the memory of Zim.

I had stolen my dad's thunder and made him into a mere spectre of himself, with only his shadows of glory to keep him sane. Zim was off fighting a war he no longer believed in, because he was faithful to his people. No matter what another Irken said about Invader Zim, he would always serve the Empire until death.

Zim would serve the Empire, but he would one day return to his alien friends and his home. I will never forget his parting words, the only time he spoke true Irken. The only time he had betrayed the twin gods for those that took him in from the rain and soothed his weariness and misery...

_Varia Homus Terrakk._ Man and Earth Forever.

Please, Zim, return to us one day!


	3. Motherly Instincts

It's been six years since Zim took off for whatever mission those Irken jerks wanted him for. With Dib more famous than Dad and Tak searching for the Invader most of the year, I'm left alone with GIR. The little robot seems to look up to me like I'm...well...a mother, I guess. Ever since Zim left, my dark facade shattered to show a caring heart I thought I'd lost since Mom's death...

GIR looks up to me like a son looks up to his mother. I can't begin to count the number of bedtime stories I've read to him, the number of nightmares I've soothed away. He expects me to be his mommy, and for some reason...

...I like the feeling...

Maybe it's some subconscious desire for my own mom to be alive again. Maybe caring for others is what I was destined to do, instead of dooming and destroying. I do have to admit, though, that it's definitely hard with a precocious entity like GIR. He asks me questions about everything, from why the sky is blue to why Dib's head shrank all of a sudden.

That one always makes me smile.

Why don't I just leave him to his own devices? I've asked myself the same thing too many times to count. Maybe it's because I'm female and the mothering instinct just can't be ground out from the human mind, no matter how hard one tries.

Every year, we hold a memorial ceremony in the lab room we designated as the shrine to Zim. I had found Tak in the park three years ago, her legs shattered and her Pak barely functioning. Dib saved her life, and she saw what our lives were like without Zim. Maybe he had touched a part of her squeedlyspooch long ago. Every year, she takes Dibship - we still call it that, even though we know the Irken name - out and tries to find the Invader. And every year, she returns in time for the memorial service, with nothing to show for her efforts.

I sit at the dining table in Zim's house, a cup of coffee in my hands, when I hear a piercing shriek of terror from the upstairs room. I rush over to the source of the scream, and find GIR sitting upright in his little bed. His cyan eyes water in tearful fright, and I pick him up and comfort him.

"There, there, GIR...everything'll be okay..." He looks at me with those large, adoring eyes and whispers.

"I had a nightmare, mommy..."

I hold the tiny robot closer to my breast, whispering the same comforting thoughts in his ear that my own mom had whispered into mine.

"It's okay, GIR. I'll stay by you and keep those nasty nightmares away..." I tuck the tiny SIR Unit back into bed and sit at the foot, keeping watch in the manner only a mother could...

I'm sixteen and I'm the mother of an orphaned child...

Return to us, Zim! Return for our sake!

Please Zim, return for GIR's sake...!


	4. More Than a Steel Slave

I see my master, standing in front of me. He and his rival fight bitterly over the years, later becoming friends. In my dreams, I see Master's rival split and grow into the Tallest. My nightmares often see Master dying before I wake with a scream of terror. Mommy Gazzy always makes me feel better after these nightmares, but what I really want is for Master to come back to us.

It's been six years since Master left, and each year sees me getting more intelligent and more afraid. Was Master never going to return to us? Did the Tallest want him dead for their own reasons? The leering faces of the Irken dictators linger in my head longer than they should have.

I remember asking Computer if Master was going to come back, and he said that it wasn't likely. I wondered what Master was doing so far away from us. What mission could take six years or more to complete? Was Master given another planet? Another SIR to help him? Did he simply forget that his friends on Earth were waiting?

In recent years, I've been crying myself to sleep with tears that better belong to my friends and human family. Tacos and pizza never cheer me up like they used to. Before he disappeared, Mommy's dad once said that robots aren't supposed to be eating or sleeping like people. Computer says that I was a joke to Zim and to the Tallest. I thought they were lying. But they're not, and I know that I am more than a joke.

I am more than a mere Irken SIR Unit, destined to slave endlessly under an Invader master. I am more than a piece of junk fished out of a trash can. I am more than a collection of pocket items. I am GIR, and I am unique. How many other robots can speak of having electric dreams? How many other robots can speak of joys only organic beings can partake of? I am unique in all the Irken Empire, and it is with that notion that I believe, despite my evil nightmare Tallest, that Master will come back to us one day.

On that day, we will party as if tomorrow heralds the Apocalypse itself. The world could rain tacos and I would pass the storm up, just to hear Master's voice and see Master's face in the flesh once more. Please, Master! Return to us safe and sound! For Mommy's sake and Dib's sake! For Computer and Minimoose! Return for all those that believe! Return for all those that care!

Please Master, return to me some day!


	5. Scouring the Stars

As the ship's NaviComp sets a course for Earth, I reflect on what had transpired in the past year. I've failed to find Zim once again, and my hopes cracked more with each passing failure. With a deep sigh, I lie back and grab MiMi's tiny robotic arm. My old Spittle Runner, the Dibship, adjusts for Earth's trajectory and jumps into hyperspace. Once again, the annual memorial of the Irken's landing on the humans' homeworld is coming up, and I didn't intend to miss the sixth memorial service. I smile, an odd feeling to me, and wonder how Zim would react if he knew that two humans, three robots and an Irken that once despised him had honoured him with a memorial service and a shrine in his labs.

I turn to stare at my robotic companion. MiMi had fallen in love with GIR, a concept none of us had anticipated. Since her life had been brightened by Zim's older SIR Unit, my metallic minion had wanted to see the Irken Invader's face on Earth once more. I silently wished for her to be truly happy, for the very best she could get.

My mind wandered back to the night that had changed my life for the better. I had crashed in a city park, not far from Zim's hidden base. I was lucky to survive, and so was MiMi. When I saw who had discovered and subsequently rescued me, I couldn't believe my eyes. Of all the people that could have a reason to kill me for who I am and what I did, I was surprised when Dib had done the very opposite and saved me.

I'm grateful to Dib for saving my life. I was on the verge of death, my Pak almost dead and my body worse off. MiMi was scattered into a mass of broken SIR parts, and the escape pod barely survived the crash. When I asked the human what payment he expected, his eyes went oddly soft and he had named his terms.

"Remember Zim. Remember him and honour who he was and what he has done. That's all we want from you."

In response, I had taken to scouring the stars for the Invader's presence. Thanks to an informant, I learned of the suicide mission against the poorly named but well prepared Resisty, yet I couldn't interfere directly. So I travelled the worlds of the Irken Empire and its enemies. From Meekrob to the Planet Jackers, from Dirt to Boodie Nen, I searched and hoped that Zim would be there. Yet I never saw a glance of him wherever I went.

The computer said that the jump would take two days to finish. I looked in the back, to my other passenger. I was amazed at the work Dib had done to my ship. Equipped with Earth technology stolen from aliens in the past and expanded to hold four people, he had truly made my ship his.

Having rescued Skoodge from near death at the hands of the Tallest, I was grateful that he had fallen asleep at last. He surely needed the rest break to sort out what had transpired and what he would soon be facing on Earth. As I watched his sleeping bulk, my eyes started to water with tears I had not felt since my very own banishment to Dirt. I turned to look at the streaking white lines of the stars, and I saw eternity in their swift and silent passage. Perhaps Zim himself had achieved his own eternity, but for the sake of the humans that he had touched with his life, I could only pray that he would return safe and sound.

My search shall never end until you have returned to your true home, Invader Zim. I shall never give up until I hear your voice and see your flesh grounded firmly on the humans' homeworld. In the name of the Mother of Irk, Zim! Return to us safe and sound! Return to those who honour your memory!

For the sake of the Mother, return to us soon!


	6. A Hero's Return

A girl and a boy, accompanied by a lone cat, walked up the now familiar path to the eerie house that had stood for almost eight long years. The girl knocked on the door, and had to look almost straight up as a young man answered. Looking down, he smiled.

"Hey, Tak. Skoodge. MiMi. Good to see you all again." Dib sounded happy, but they all knew that no happiness could truly be obtained until Zim returned. Dib ushered the Irkens and the SIR Unit into the house, where Gaz and GIR were already dressed in Invader outfits for the occasion. There was a selection of Irken treats and human snacks on the kitchen counter, many of them having been baked by GIR himself. As they sat around the table, munching on sweet treats and sipping calmly on sodas, the Computer's voice pierced the calm but tense atmosphere.

"Sensors indicate an Irken craft passing the Crescent!"

That one sentence saw Tak and Skoodge's antennae flip up in a signal of alertness. Gaz's eyes opened and Dib stared up. GIR and MiMi, locked in a passionate robotic embrace, held still. They had been waiting for this, as only one Irken craft could pass the bulk of the alien space fortress and not get shot down.

Dib spoke first. "Scan the IFF. Verify its origin." The loud hum of nearly obsolete machinery permeated the entire household, as sensor systems long in dormancy woke up for the first time in ages and initiated passive scanning of the alien craft's Identify: Friend or Foe beacon.

Computer spoke again, this time with barely restrained joy: "It's him! It's really him! He's returned!" The house was filled with whoops of celebration and cries of happiness. After six years, their binding tie had returned from his suicide mission! At long last, Invader Zim had returned to his Earthen home!

The assembled party ran out to the front lawn, where the purple blur of a severely damaged, but still serviceable, Voot Cruiser came screaming from the heavens to the asphalt of the cul-de-sac below. The Irkens and their SIR Units were undisguised, but they earned no more than a cursory glance from the humans who lived near Zim's house. With a mighty crash, the Voot Cruiser slammed into the roadway, and the windscreen opened to reveal Zim at long last. Battered, bruised and weak, but his infamous pride intact, the Irken they had all eventually come to love had returned to the only planet he could truly call home. God and the Mother of Irk must both have answered the pleas, the prayers of those who cared for Zim and his legacy, for surely there was no other way he could have come back.

The Irken stared at his allies and saw tears of joy in the faces of six. Without a single word, they dogpiled Zim with a great collective glomp of purest happiness. Zim wrestled with them for a few seconds before giving in to the ecstatic cries and hugs.

Once they had cleared from him and examined him for any major damage, he jumped up on the nearly destroyed Irken craft and began to declaim, as was his wont.

"YES! Tremble in joy and squidgy squeedlyspooches, for I, ZIM, have arrived at last!" He jumped down and looked at Dib, Gaz and GIR, who were all taken aback by the sight of him. Zim smiled, a bit guiltily and with a great deal of wryness, and began to speak normally.

"You're wondering how I did it, right guys?"

Dib replied for them. "Of course, Zim!" GIR was more to the point with his joy. Still hanging onto MiMi, he tackled Zim and screeched with happiness.

"MASTER'S HOME! MASTER'S HOME! _YAYY!_" The Irken smiled and gathered the little robot in his arms.

"Yes, GIR. I'm home to stay, and there's nothing the Irken Empire can do to take me away once more." Tak and Skoodge stared. The psionic Irken lass spoke before her shorter ally could do so.

"How did you manage the mission, Zim? The Tallest were so sure you'd die! How did you escape?"

Zim, if anything, smiled wider. "Simple. I...negotiated...with Lard Nar of the Resisty. I know him from earlier times...it was a little over three months ago that I had finally found the base camp of the Resisty...

"I was gathering information on their strengths and weaknesses, hoping to exploit some hole in their defences. I was captured by none other than the Vortian who started work on the Massive, and he had recognised me from sight alone..." Zim paused, reliving the terror of potential death.

Dib spoke. "So what happened? Did they just send you off, or did they try and kill you after all?"

"No, they didn't kill me. Apparently, the Resisty had heard of what I refused to understand." Zim smiled. "Heh, who would have known that I would finally see myself for who I am? I wrecked Irk, destroyed Tak's chance at Invadership, screwed Skoodge over at least five times and still think I'm the best thing since Pak legs..." He cleared his throat and continued.

"So there I am, actually holding a sane conversation with an alien that would normally want my blood, and he tells me that the Tallest think I'm a joke. He proposed a little side mission for me that sounded very nice on the surface of it. He wanted something from me that I was more than prepared to give. I liked the idea, so I simply gave him what he wanted for what I wanted. A simple and very mutual trade..."

Gaz interjected at this point. "What would a Vortian have to trade with an Irken? I thought the two races _hated_ each other!"

"Under normal circumstances, yes. But remember that Vort and Irk were once allies. The work of Invader Larb under the machinations of Operation Impending Doom 2 brought the alliance to a crashing conclusion." Tak spoke with the tone of somebody refreshing another's memory. They had all kept up on Irken matters while Zim was gone.

Zim spoke again. "Yes. And you have to remember, this guy knows me _personally_, from my days as a military researcher. He gave me my freedom as an Irken, and I gave him Red and Purple's heads on a silver platter." He looked at Tak, whose eyes had widened considerably. "I don't think you'll have problems with the new Tallest. She seems more occupied with restoring the homeworld to its former glory before invading other worlds. And I have _no _intention of conquering my true home under _any_ conditions.

"Remember what I said before I left, Dib and Gaz. I recited it every single night during my mission:

"_Varia Homus Terrakk._ Man and Earth Forever." Zim strode into his base...no, his _home_. As the others followed him into the poorly disguised base, Zim's head was held high and his lips curled into a great smile. He spoke with the authority of a king surveying his domain and the barely restrained joy of a man who, despite all odds, succeeded in a mission of pure disaster with his towel smelling like a rose garden.

"Come on in, folks. I have a _lot_ of catching up to do..."


End file.
